From: Doug Sutherland (wearable_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2001-12-05 20:52:08
Hi Jim,
> So, in this case, I would say, make the circuit design freely
> available, and stick the firmware source under the GPL.
The Brainmaster freeware (hardware) build specs remain the
propery of Tom Collura, but he allows them to be freely
distributed. I think that Joerg should be allowed to own
his design too, and hopefully be willing to share it at
the same time. This is the statement at the bottom of the
brainmaster build specs:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Thomas F. Collura All rights reserved.
> You may distribute this document, but you may not alter it,
> or charge money for it. Always give credit where credit is due.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess I better give credit to Tom for the above :)
As for software, GPL is generally a good thing IMO. It
requires that if people take the code and use it, they
must continue to provide the source code, even for new
stuff they design. Some people think that is a bit too
restrictive. That's why I mentioned the Apache license.
This one allows people to add their own code but not
give away their source. We went through a lot of grief
at Sunny Micro with licensing issues re Java and Jini.
I noticed that their new JXTA thing follows something
like the Apache license. All three of these have some
very different licensing. Java has a very restricted
license. Jini is a bit less restricted, they now allow
people to put a Jini logo on stuff without paying the
royalties. JXTA is even less restricted, following the
Apache license. Sun didn't go full GPL and they most
likely never will. GPL is a simple license. I like it.
> Fortunately, this part (licencing) doesn't seem to be
> as complicated as it might have been, as far as I can
> make out.
You'd be surprised how complicated this gets in the
commercial sense. It CAN be simple if GPL is used for
the software. A license like Apache is pretty simple
too. Anything else is complicated. As for hardware it
could be like the brainmaster to make things simple,
and that allows Joerg to forever own the copyright.
> My preference would be for a decent sampling rate
> (200Hz+), a good range (I'm interested in <1Hz signals)
That's what I want too. At least 0.5-40Hz and 200Hz
sampling.
> I don't know how many channels I'd need
For the extra effort/time/cost involved I think it
is worth going with two channels. Almost ALL of the
EEGs out there have two channels.
> Are there perhaps safety regulations on this kind
> of device, though -- otherwise surely EEG monitors
> would be available as kits already? Is this the
> reason why the project seems to be aiming for
> manufacturing a pre-assembled unit?
Some relevent observations:
1) Creative Concepts used to sell a kit for HAL-4
with the board and parts, you assemble.
2) There used to be a FAQ on the brainmaster site
that said they don't sell boards or kits because
it interferes with them registering with FDA.
3) Brainmaster at least used to sell two versions,
one for clinical use and one not for clinical
use. They were identical. You had to basically
agree (I think I did that over email) that you
would not use the non-clinical braimaster for
clinical purposes. Sounds like some kind of a
legal protection to me, or perhaps that is also
not to mess up the FDA registration etc.
4) I was told that the non-clinical brainmaster did
not include the clinical programs and documents,
but I got everything: there only was one program,
and they sent me the clinical guide. Perhaps that
has changed since.
5) I just noticed something interesting. Take a look
at the bottom of this page. It says the following
"For Clinical Application"
Neurofeedback devices are only through or with
written permission of a professional biofeedback
practitioner.
Well, that is new, because they sold me one last
year with no such written permission. Somebody
better look into that above statement and see if
that is just a brainmaster conceived rule or if
there are some new regulations ...
6) There is, or at least was, issues relevant to
clinical vs non-clinical sales. Again, I think
someone needs to look into that.
-- Doug
>
> If the target is home-constructors, how hard would it be to have a PCB
> that could be adapted for different uses by the constructor
> him/herself, e.g. serial-out versus IrDA, 9V cell versus
> Nicad+charger, according to his/her needs ?
>
> Doug Sutherland wrote:
> > You definitely need FFT source,
>
> There are very good open-source FFT libraries available. Most of this
> kind of signal processing stuff is already out there, somewhere.
> (Especially in UNIX-land).
>
> I personally live at the command-line, so almost all the code I'll
> write will be command-line driven. Probably, for end users, you'd be
> wanting simplified GUI apps. This isn't my scene. However, any work
> that I or others do with the low-level apps will make the work of a
> GUI app coder much much easier.
>
> Currently I can cross-compile audio command-line tools for Windows and
> Linux using MinGW. It might be possible to make software that
> compiles on both Linux and Windows using one of the libraries that is
> designed for writing portable games, such as SDL (Simple Directmedia
> Layer).
>
> Jim
>
> --
> Jim Peters (_)/=\~/_(_) Uazú
> (_) /=\ ~/_ (_)
> jim@ (_) /=\ ~/_ (_) www.
> uazu.net (_) ____ /=\ ____ ~/_ ____ (_) uazu.net
>
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--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The human-computer interface seems to be stuck on the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) model. What I'd like is to have you call me and my clothing answers.
http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/jacket-wearable.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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